


Feathers of Crimson

by bluetoast



Series: Birds of a Feather [40]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Deaf Dean Winchester, F/M, Gen, earthquake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-08
Updated: 2014-05-08
Packaged: 2018-01-24 00:52:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1585667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluetoast/pseuds/bluetoast
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean hasn't felt quite right all day. When his mind finally clears, all he knows is that he needs to move his family some place safe. No sooner do the Coulters get into the doorway before the ground starts to move.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Feathers of Crimson

It was a peculiar sort of day. Dean had been aware of that since the moment he got up. He couldn't quite place what it was, but something was wrong. It'd been hard to explain it to Ignacia, who wanted to blame it on his upcoming exams. Well, he couldn't fault her for thinking that. There was just something wrong in the air. Like it used to get in Maryland before a blizzard left the area crippled. But it never snowed like that in Palo Alto. It also was also October, making the possibility so remote, he'd worry about the world ending first.

The best way to describe it was a dizzy feeling. That's how he felt – he felt dizzy. As if he had just gone on every roller coaster at Six Flags back to back to back and had somehow been transported from ride to ride without stopping to catch his breath. It was a pretty awful way to feel. How he made it through the day, he wasn't certain.

Now he was home, his head pounding as he tried to study. At least the apartment noise was already filtered out for him. Ignacia was working on statistics of some of the gymnasts where she worked. Liesel, for her part, was quite content to sit on the floor with her box of sorting blocks, watching the two of them. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his wife take a few deep breaths every now and then, and he would glance over at their daughter, who was babbling away. There were only a handful of words he could understand, due to her constantly mixing English and Romanian so that only her mother could understand her completely – her ASL was much better, and she kept throwing up her hands in celebration when she managed to shove the right block into the right space. 

He gave her a worn smile and raised his own hands after she put the purple oval into its hole. He felt a little better. Then, as Liesel picked up the turquoise diamond, something happened. The dizzy, uncertain feeling was swept away. Dean wasn't sure how he knew what to do next, but he did. He stood, went over and picked up Liesel and then put a hand on Ignacia's shoulder. “Up.”

“What?” She stood, looking confused. He didn't blame her – and he didn't know how much time they had. 

Dean pulled her into the doorway between the main room and the kitchen, keeping one arm around her and the other around Liesel – and then the whole apartment began to shudder. 

Ignacia might have screamed – and then she held onto him tighter, pressing herself against him as he tightened his grip on their daughter. 

Everything was shaking. The ground beneath them, the chairs at the table clattered and one fell over. The light above it was swinging madly and Liesel's blocks tumbled across the room as the movement continued. 

He felt Liesel sob against his chest and he kissed the top of her head and then did the same to his wife. It was a strong quake and how he was staying on his feet was as much of a mystery as knowing to get into the doorway when he did. Something hit his leg and he looked down to see the saucepan that had been on the counter. He just hoped the rest of the kitchen utensils would stay where they were. 

Then there came an ugly smell. Not of gas, thankfully, but of something more crude and foul – perhaps from a sewer. It reminded him of the stench of a gardening center, near the fertilizer section. The smell remained as the ground ceased shaking, moving onto a more rolling feeling, and finally, at long last, became as still as it had been moments ago. He let out a breath. “I think it's over.”

Ignacia didn't want to let go of him and, really, he didn't blame her. He kept his arm around her as the three of them sank into a pile on the floor. Liesel in her mother's lap, and Ignacia in his, so he could hold both of them easily. 

Looking into the kitchen, he was relieved to see that the only things out of place where the pan and the bag of potatoes that had fallen over and scattered its contents across the room. The living room was also in decent shape, the chairs and a few loose items were lying about. Ignacia shifted, and then turned to look at him. “Are you all right?”

She nodded. “I think so.” She smoothed down their daughter's hair and flinched. “There's a lot of sirens going off.” 

He nodded. “Does anything sound wrong? Like it's shifting or going to fall?”

“There's a lot of creaking, but nothing sounds on the verge of collapse, if that's what you mean.” She looked down at Liesel, who was covering her ears with her hands, her expression more angry than scared. “How strong do you think that quake was?”

“At least a five.” Dean let out a small grunt as his wife stood up, and then he got up as well, taking Liesel back from her. The girl whimpered against him and rested her head on his shoulder. “Let's check the rest of the apartment.” The moved out of the doorway. “I'm just hoping that smell isn't coming from the bathroom.”

“I think what you smell is the dumpster outside –I think it moved closer to the building.” Ignacia stayed next to him as they walked through the apartment. A few other things were scattered about, but it wasn't anything major. 

Despite the the fact that the shaking seemed to go on forever, the television informed the Coulters that the quake had lasted a mere forty-five seconds. Dean knew all to well that a lot could happen in that short amount of time. The news also said that Palo Alto and much of the Bay area had gotten off relatively easy, despite the five point six magnitude – the epicenter had been farther west, in the middle of nowhere. But at that epicenter, the earth had shaken at a magnitude of seven point nine. The highway had cracked in half, rail lines twisted and power cut off to several small towns.

Later that night, with Liesel sleeping contentedly between them, Dean had an uneasy feeling settle over him. He sat up, not waking the two slumbering next to him. It wasn't another quake, he was certain of that. A minute later, he almost – _almost_ laughed. If it hadn't been a painful memory, he would have laughed. 

Yesterday had been November second. 

The day the demon killed his mom and sent him on the path that led him here.

He took a deep breath and laid back down. It was odd, he hadn't thought of that in years. It was probably just nerves leftover from the quake. Sam had told him John had killed the demon. There was nothing to fear. This was just another year gone by without her – and he'd not thought about it until just now.

The earthquake was just a coincidence. Even if there had been no quake, there was nothing particularly remarkable about November second, two thousand five.


End file.
